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Border war brewing over casino gambling

Updated:
02/01/2013 11:50:08 AM EST

The race between Massachusetts and New Hampshire to establish casino gambling seems to be going the Bay State's way at the moment, but there are indications our neighbor to the north is poised to make a move.

Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Gambling Commission received 11 applications from entities interested in winning a license to run one of the three designated resort casinos or one slots parlor.

Commissioners plan to award the slots-parlor license by the end of this year and the first resort-casino license by February of 2014.

Advantage, Massachusetts.

However, in New Hampshire, two developing bills in the Legislature, and a poll of residents' sentiment, indicate a growing momentum for casino gambling.

In a survey on several statewide issues done earlier this month by New England College in Henniker, those polled backed the idea of casino gambling by a wide margin, 54 percent to 35 percent. By political parties, it showed strong support from Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Gov. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, reportedly supports building one large casino - presumably near the Massachusetts border - and that just happens to be the gist of one of the two bills percolating through the legislative process.

That measure, backed by state Sens. Lou D'Allesandro, a Manchester Democrat, and Chuck Morse, a Salem Republican, proposes a casino with a 10-year, $80 million license fee, which would tax slot revenue at 30 percent and table-gambling proceeds at 14 percent, according to D'Allesandro.

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While that bill calls for a casino to be built anywhere in the state, given that one of the sponsors is from Salem, which already has a Casino Advisory Committee, it seems fairly certain that community would be the likely location - if it can beat Massachusetts to the punch.

The other bill would establish two mediumsized casinos - one up north and one in the south.

Obviously, New Hampshire, which is usually a master at sucking revenue out of the commonwealth, can see how just the opposite would happen if a resort casino within easy traveling distance opens in Massachusetts.

More than gambling, it could seriously affect its tourism industry.

So with the clock running, New Hampshire lawmakers must expedite a bill through the Legislature, and the one favored by the governor would seem the likely choice.

Then it would be up to Hassan to see to it that a casino could be built there before Massachusetts can make it happen.

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